1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to surgical instruments and, more particularly, to surgical instruments for use in laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures having an articulating joint.
2. Background of Related Art
Laparoscopic and endoscopic surgical procedures are minimally invasive procedures in which operations are carried out within the body by means of elongated instruments inserted through small entrance openings in the body. In minimally invasive procedures, the initial opening in the body tissue to allow passage of instruments to the interior of the body may be a natural passageway of the body (e.g. mouth or anus) or it can be created by a tissue piercing instrument such as a trocar. With the aid of a cannula assembly inserted into the opening, laparoscopic or endoscopic instrumentation may then be used to perform desired surgical procedures.
Because endoscopic and laparoscopic tubes, instrumentation, and any required punctures or incisions are relatively narrow, endoscopic and laparoscopic surgery is less invasive and causes much less trauma to the patient as compared to procedures in which the surgeon is required to cut open large areas of body tissue. Laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures often require the surgeon to operate on organs, tissues, and vessels far removed from the incision. Thus, instruments used in these procedures are long and narrow, and must be functionally controllable from one end thereof. Mechanical actuation of such instruments is generally constrained to the movement of the various components along a longitudinal axis formed by the endoscopic portion instrument.
Conventional laparoscopic and endoscopic instruments include a handle assembly, an elongated member extending from the handle assembly and a tool assembly mounted on the distal end of the elongated member. The tool assembly may form graspers, forceps, vessel sealers, surgical staplers, clip appliers and the like. The handle assembly may be configured with a trigger for manual actuation of the tool assembly or may include a powered actuation assembly. Depending on the design of the instrument, actuation of the handle assembly may either cause a rod to longitudinally traverse the elongated member thereby actuating the tool assembly mounted on the distal end. Alternatively, the actuation of the handle assembly may cause rotation of a drive shaft extending the length of the elongated member. Both methods of transferring the actuation force from the handle assembly to the tool assembly are known in the art.
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,374 to Young et al., the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses a surgical stapler for use in endoscope procedures that utilizes a rotating drive shaft to transfer the actuation force from the handle assembly to the tool assembly, in this case, a stapler. Actuation of the motorized handle assembly causes the rotation of the drive shaft within the elongated body member. The drive shaft is configured such that rotation of the shaft causes actuation of the stapling assembly located on the distal end of the elongated body member.
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,221 to Stein et al., the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses an endoscopic instrument for applying fasteners having a trigger for manual actuation of the handle assembly. Squeezing of the trigger causes rotational motion of a drive shaft which in turn actuates the tool assembly, a fastener dispensing distal end.
Endoscopic and laparoscopic procedures are performed on tissue within the body cavity that may be difficult to access. Whether obstructed by bone, organs and other tissue, or simply the configuration of the body cavity, accessing tissue using conventional endoscopic or laparoscopic instruments can be challenging. Manipulating a tool assembly located on the distal end of a rigid shaft can prove challenging. To address this problem and overcome the inability to access difficult to reach tissue, endoscopic and laparoscopic instruments have been developed with an articulating joint which enables a tool assembly mounted on the distal end of an elongated member to be articulated. Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,269 to Bolanos et al., incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses an endoscopic stapler having an articulating stapling assembly.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to have an endoscopic surgical instrument including an articulating joint for articulating a tool assembly mounted on the distal end thereof.